To Fight the Darkness
by SlyWolf
Summary: Into even the brightest soul darkness will seep in. When you look into the mirror, what is it that you see looking back?
1. Default Chapter

I do not own Legend of Zelda

"What do you do, when you look in the abyss, and see yourself?"

_To My Dear Princess Zelda,_

_            I am enjoying my vacation here. The beaches are lovely, the people are nice, and the food is delicious. There are only two things I have to complain about. The first is that you aren't by my side. But I will see you soon, and I have your picture to warm my heart._

_            The second is more complicated. Of late, I have felt… something odd within me. I know not why, but I have begun to feel hatred. Very strong hatred, for all that is evil. It takes a great deal of self-control to retain my sanity in this circumstance._

_            It is as nothing I have ever felt. A great darkness within me, that seethes in anger. It… scares me, and yet invites me, asking me to give in to it.  But, I am strong and a champion of light. I shall not surrender to the darkness within…_

_            Do give my regards to my brother knights, and to your father._

_Love,_

_Sir Link._


	2. Those who fight monsters must take care

This might be surprising… a warning to you all.

            Link rode Epona at a steady pace over the hills of Nocturne. Lightning crackled overhead, but he paid it no heed. He patted his steed's nose. "Well, old girl… I must say that this has been an interesting vacation. I'd be glad to return to Zelda, though…" His ears suddenly perked up as he heard… "Screams?" The young knight sighed, and patted his tunic. Drawing his sword, he spurred Epona to a trot. As he rounded the crest, he saw… "Oh, my Goddesses…" 

            The village was burning. War whoops could be heard as Gerudos rode through on black horses, slicing down on fleeing villagers. Link stared in shock, but his eyes narrowed when he saw a young woman holding a child get brutally murdered. The woman was the same age as his Zelda. Link reached behind him, his eyes as dark as coal.

            The Gerudos realized what was going on when the sky started to fill with glowing arrows. One of them fell to the ground, an arrow directly through her neck. And then they heard it. The sound of a charging horse. And a loud cry, which chilled the bones of all who heard it. "YOU SCUM HAVE STOLEN YOUR LAST RUPEE!"

            Like an avenging angel, Link charged into the town. The Gerudo guards were the first to feel his wrath as he emotionlessly parted heads from bodies. Blood spilled onto the ground, and bodies fell soon afterwards. But Link didn't even notice. He didn't even look down as Epona trampled directly over a begging Gerudo. Soon, there was only one Gerudo left, backing into a wall.

            Link leapt off of Epona, and started to walk closer to the whimpering woman. With a sudden movement, she was lifted off the ground and held in a gauntleted hand. Link waited until she stopped struggling, and then spoke, in a cold, emotionless voice quite unlike his normal one. "Do you wish to live?"

            The woman spat in his face. Link growled, and started to tighten his grasp. The woman choked out, "I… I want to live… please… you're choking me…" Link shook her.

            "If you want to live, you will lead me to your fortress." She choked out that she would do as he commanded. With a mighty throw, she was sent flying down the street. "What are you waiting for, thief?" The crying woman led him through the forests, down a hidden path.

==============

            She stopped at the top of a hill. Link followed her, walking slowly. When he reached the top, he nodded as he saw the fortress. The Gerudo looked up at him. "Sir?" She asked, seeing for the first time a trace of common empathy within the knight.

            Link opened his mouth, as if to respond, but then he shuddered. With a roar which seemed to come from somewhere visceral, he reached forward and grabbed her neck once more. She kicked, and screamed, but soon she fell limp. With an almost careless movement, he sent her flying back into the trees. "Did you truly think I would let a murderer like you live?" He snorted, angrily, and then he started to walk down the path to the fortress. "I am the sword of the Goddesses. I bring redemption," He whispered, though he didn't truly know who he was speaking to. Somewhere inside of him, a little voice was saying, 'This isn't right… I don't act like this…"

            He silenced that voice, and strode onwards.


	3. Oblivion

If there's a Hell, I'm going there for sure...the weak of heart might not want to read this chapter...

The sentry fell to the side, blood slowly oozing from her heart. The sword was pulled from out of her. She had had no time even for a whimper, and never saw the avenging angel behind her.  
  
Link was moving through a dream world now. He was watching his actions as if from a great distance, thinking that it might be some strange illusion. "And so shall perish...all enemies of the light..." his lips said, without any direct connection with his mind.  
  
It was a massacre...he strode through the halls of the fortress, looking for anyone, anything...his bloodlust seemed to emanate from every surface of his body. He could not, would not, stop himself. Blood and gore slid from his sword, covered him.  
  
The Gerudo could not fight him back. Their brittle scimitars were casually taken and snapped, as he broke their hands. Link started to delight in their screaming for mercy, as he took them to the height of pain before ending their miserable lives.  
  
Then he came to a door. A simple job which seemed specifically designed to keep someone out. Strangely, the guards had fought with a fury unmatched to stop him from reaching here. All were dead, of course.  
  
He forced his way into the room, and paused as several small faces looked up at him. Children, small girls...staring up at him, confused about this man who had stormed in with blood on his weapon.  
  
He stopped, confused, shaking his head as if to clear it. He opened his mouth, but then...the darkness overtook him once more, the rage...that awful rage...he welcomed it, he smiled as it came, and as it sent him away.  
  
_ He didn't even hear the screams, see the panic and terror, feel the blood... After all, wasn't it all a dream?_


	4. Darkness

The makeshift pen tapped on the log for a minute.

_My beloved Princess._

Yes. That was a good, solid beginning.

_My beloved princess,_

_I have recently had cause to doubt my sanity. No, to doubt my humanity._

_As you know, I have recently traveled to the land of Nocturne for a_

_vacation. It was my intention to soothe my troubled nerves, to help_

_myself recover from the recent struggles._

It was not to be.

The man stopped writing for a moment, and refilled his quill. Then he

took a deep breath and continued writing for a few minutes.

_It was not to be. For on my journeys through the land, I came across a_

_band of…a band of Gerudo engaged in raiding a village. There was nothing_

_for me to do, nothing I could do. My actions came without thought._

_They're dead, Zelda. Every one of them. The warriors, the leaders…the_

_children. They're all dead. They were hunted down like animals and_

_slaughtered like animals. By a monster, Zelda._

_By me. I killed them, Princess. I killed every one of them. And what_

_scares me is the knowledge that I would do it again. I have broken the_

_one rule I set for myself when all of this began. I swore I would never_

_take a human life._

_And now I have. And it terrifies me how easy it was. I'm not going back_

_to Hyrule, Princess. Not now. Not ever. I can not, will not, place_

_myself in a position where I could kill again. _

_Though I know, even as I write these letters to you, that the promise_

_will not be kept. I will kill again. I can feel the darkness inside_

_me, Princess, and I know my true destiny._

_It is the fate of all those who slay monsters to become monsters in_

_their turn. I will neither run nor will I hide. For if I am a monster,_

_what then are those that I have slain? Will slay? The question can not_

_be answered. Not by me, at least._

_Don't come looking for me, Princess. Don't send anyone. Remember me as_

_I was. Remember me as the man you loved and who loved you in return, the_

_hero of time, the saviour of Hyrule, the slayer of Ganondorf. Remember_

_me as someone who died when he first killed a woman._

He paused again, and stared into the depths of the fire. Behind his

eyes, emotions warred. 'Perhaps she could help me,' he thought to

himself. 'Perhaps…' He stopped himself from thinking along those lines.

What had been done was done.

_Remember Link. And let this letter be the last act of the man once_

_known by that name._

_Your friend and lover,_

_Link._

He looked at the letter again. It was a good letter. There was no

argument about that. It wouldn't make sense to argue about that.

Pity Zelda would never see it. He rolled it up into a ball and threw it

into the fire, where also burned a green tunic and hat. Then he began to

write a new one.

_Dear Princess Zelda,_

_I regret to inform you that Sir Link, a knight of Hyrule in your_

_service, fell in battle today against Gerudo raiders. He fought_

_valiantly, but in the end died of wounds both spiritual and physical._

_His last words were an expression of love to you._

_We are sending what few personal goods we can. We hope they will arrive_

_soon, though the seas have been rough lately. _

_Hoping this letter reaches you in good health…_

Ah. What should he call himself? He could not allow himself to use his

old name anymore. It would be a disgrace and a further dishonour.

Finally, he signed himself as…

_Hoping this letter reaches you in good health,_

_The Black Knight, Nil, of Nocturne_

He folded the paper up and placed it in an envelope, grabbed the crystal

for Farore's Wind, and teleported it to the post office he had marked

earlier. Once that was done, he took the magical crystals and crushed

them to so much dust. 'The Goddesses have forsaken me. I no longer

deserve to call upon their power.'

Then Nil walked outside and looked at his black warhorse. Epona had been

exchanged for this horse a day ago, and while it should have been

painful to lose her, somehow all Nil had felt was numbness inside.

"…come on, Dragmire." Nil said, leaping onto his steed's back.

Nil paused for one more moment, then he picked something out of his

pocket. He stared at it for a moment, remembering other times, other

lives. Then with an expression of the deepest remorse, mingled with

contempt for himself, he threw it to the ground where it shattered. Then

he spurred his horse onwards, and the black knight and his steed

vanished into the shadows.

Behind them, the crystal blue shards of an ocarina stared up into the

night sky…

_AN: I never intended to go this long without an update. Last year was_

_unusually hectic, it seems. And while this is certainly…very belated… I_

_hope you'll enjoy it._

_As for a sequel…well, who knows? Perhaps there's room for one. I don't_

_know if I'll be the one to write it, though._


End file.
